Food - Drink
Brazil's National Drink, Caipirinha, Includes A Historic Spirit
By WENDY LEIGH
The caipirinha is a simple yet refreshing Brazilian cocktail, and to further the intrigue, the drink is made with cachaça, an exclusive liquor only produced in Brazil.
Cachaça started out as “pinga,” an inexpensive sugarcane liquor developed in the 1500s by enslaved people working in Brazilian sugarcane fields.
In the 1800s, distillers hoping to popularize cachaça for casual drinking invented the caipirinha cocktail, which mixes the liquor with lime and sugar.
Cachaça is now so popular that by some estimates, there are 40,000 legal cachaça distillers and countless bootleggers throughout Brazil.
Although often compared to rum, cachaça must be made in Brazil from pure fermented sugar cane juice that goes through a single distillation resulting in a 40% ABV.
Though it's often compared to rum, cachaça must be made in Brazil from pure fermented sugar cane juice that goes through a single distillation, resulting in a 40% ABV.
The final liquor has an earthy, sweet, grass-like flavor. Depending on how it’s aged, it can also have aromas of vanilla, cinnamon, florals, clove, and more.
For a homemade, refreshing caipirinha, simply muddle two limes cut into wedges, pour in 2 ounces of cachaça, and add two teaspoons of fine granulated cane sugar.